Recipes where you truly can just “wing it” are kind of hard to explain. I know my mom probably hates it when I make her dig up an old one she has memorized, or heaven forbid write every detail out in an email to me.

After making these Chicken Pot Pies, I get it. They are really easy, and you totally should wing it every time you make it, because regardless they will probably turn out good. My description, however, is quite long and upon first glance it probably does not seem easy because it takes me about 3 paragraphs to explain it. Note to Self: writing out a recipe from scratch like Ina is probably never gonna happen.

BUT alas, once you make these, you are set on chicken pot pies for life. You can choose to get as fancy or frivolous as you want, I suppose I will make variations on this in the future (buffalo chicken pot pies perhaps?) but for now, this satisfies me and the future-hubs-to-be. Remember, all amounts in the recipe below are relative. you just have to go for it. You may also have round ramekins instead of rectangular ones like me, or you may want to just make it all in a giant pie dish (I however, prefer my own damn personal pie).

Mom – thank you for writing everything down for me, and explaining it in a way you knew I would understand. Because, if you didn’t write it all down and expected me to do it from memory off that time we made these together, I definitely would have forgotten the chicken broth, cream, and sherry…AKA the ingredients that hold the recipe together!

Recipe

Lulu’s Chicken Pot Pies (A wingin’ it recipe)

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 cups cooked Chicken

Olive Oil

Butter

1.5 cups Carrots

1.5 cups Celery

1.5 cups Onion, diced

(a few) splashes Chicken Broth

1/4 cup Flour

splash Half and Half or Heavy Cream

splash Cream Sherry

1 tbsp (ish) Thyme

1 tbsp (ish) Poultry Seasoning

Salt, Pepper to taste

Sauteed Mushrooms (optional)

Pillsbury Grands, Pie Dough, or Puff Pastry

egg wash

Directions

Preheat Oven to 400 degrees F.

Use any kind of chicken you like, such as a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken. I marinated boneless chicken tenders in some olive oil, white wine, thyme, salt and pepper. I cooked the chicken over medium heat in a large skillet on the stove. After cooking, I shredded the chicken into bite sized pieces, and set aside.

Chop a small/medium onion and start cooking it on the stove in a bit of olive oil and butter. Add some chopped celery and carrots. Don’t forget to add some salt and pepper and a bit of thyme and even some poultry seasoning. Let the mixture cook down until veggies are soft. If they seem to get too dry add a little chicken stock, but not too much. *NOTE: At this point you can cook some sliced mushrooms in another skillet with butter and add them a little later.

After the veggies have cooked down a bit, add about 1/4 cup of flour and mix it around until it is absorbed. It will seem very thick and dry at this point but make sure that the flour is fully mixed in before slowly adding some more chicken broth. This should be on low heat so that you don’t burn the mixture. You will slowly see the veggie/flour mixture thickening up and keep adding the chicken broth slowly to get the right consistency. Don’t let it get too thin because you also want to add a SPLASH of sherry and some heavy cream or half and half to the mixture. You don’t want it to be too dry because the crust will absorb some of the mixture. At this point you can add your cooked mushrooms that are already seasoned and the cut up chicken. Mix this all together and see how it tastes. You may have to add some salt and pepper or even a little butter and mix it up.

Place the chicken mixture into ramekins and then roll out a biscuit, puff pastry sheet, or pie crust and place it over the chicken mixture. You don’t want a huge amount of dough on top so it is best to roll it out. Make some vent holes for the steam on top of the crust, and feel free to place a little egg wash over the dough so it browns up nice. Place ramekins on a baking sheet and into the oven at about 400 degrees. Cook for about 10-15 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown.

Ok. Chicken and Dumplings are good. Really good. Even when you kind of screw up the recipe…

This is one of the only pictures I got. The dumplings are boiling to their death...

I went off of an awesome recipe from Culinary Cory – but I should have stuck to it more. I decided I was going to add more veggies, but not add more broth to the recipe…

the mound of extra veggies that I thought was a brilliant idea.

Everything was looking good…I added a splash of cream sherry to liven things up a bit…

Looks amazing right now, right?

Things went downhill as soon as I added the dumplings and brought everything to a boil. First of all, the dumplings soak up a lot of broth while they are cooking, so having enough is important. Then, while the mound of veggies were suffocating under the dumplings, I kind of burnt the bottom of the pan…sigh.

This was the end product. More of a stew than a soup...not the most gorgeous photo or dish. But I swear it still tasted great!

Luckily, the end product still tasted good besides a few burnt chunks that were encountered. The pot I used is pissed though. Thank God the friends that ate this didn’t mind a chicken and dumpling stew…We have coincidentally nicknamed the dish “chicken and dumps.” Not because it was bad – just because it’s hilarious.

Despite my mistake, this all got scooped up pretty fast. I didn't have time to take a picture after it had stopped boiling...mmm doughy chunks.

This is just one of those things I guess – a learning experience. “Winging it” and adding tons of extra veggies wasn’t the greatest idea ever. So, here is the lovely recipe below, and for the love of god, either follow it or DOUBLE it or TRIPLE it…Don’t wing it like I did!

In a small Dutch oven or heavy stock pot, preheat the olive oil on medium high heat. Dice the chicken breasts into medium sized pieces and slowly add them to the oil. Add the thyme, salt, pepper and garlic powder to chicken. Sauté for 2 – 3 minutes or until the chicken is completely cooked though, but not brown. Remove and set aside.

To the same Dutch oven, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the celery, onions and carrots to the butter. Stir occasionally for 4 – 5 minutes or until the onions are slightly translucent. Next, add the flour and stir for 1 minute until the flour has completely absorbed the butter. Stir in the cooked chicken and slowly add the chicken stock. Make sure you stir while adding the stock to prevent the flour from causing lumps. Add the frozen peas to the broth.

In a separate bowl, combine the baking mix and milk until well incorporated. Bring the broth to a boil. This is important for the dumplings to steam properly. Drop large tablespoons full of the dumpling batter into the boiling broth. Continue to boil for 10 minutes, uncovered. Cover the soup and reduce the heat to medium low. Cook for an additional 10 minutes, covered.

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